Brian explains the accicental hiatus because Jack asked him to explain the accidental hiatus.
[00:00:00] You're listening to Questionable Material with Jack and Brian, a mostly improvised podcast
[00:00:09] produced in New York by Jack Helmuth and Brian Sack.
[00:00:15] QMpodcast.com.
[00:00:16] Hi, it's Brian, the Brian half of Questionable Material with Jack and Brian.
[00:00:24] The Jack half asked me to do a little explainer because he's so he doesn't have any tech savvy.
[00:00:30] We might have established this in the past if you've listened to the podcast, he doesn't
[00:00:33] know how the computer works on the microphone or how to make the sounds go in or how to
[00:00:38] edit it that that all kind of falls onto me uploading things like that.
[00:00:42] Very tricky for Jack.
[00:00:43] So he said would you do an explainer as to why we've been on this accidental hiatus?
[00:00:47] And I said sure I would as soon as I have time and right now I have time before
[00:00:51] I don't have time.
[00:00:52] So here's the thing.
[00:00:53] We had our last episode and it was wonderful as always and you all loved it and was great.
[00:00:59] And then I was summoned by my humanitarian aid folks for a deployment in Cyprus, which
[00:01:04] is an island in the Mediterranean west of Lebanon.
[00:01:08] And so that was a little project there was going to go out there and we were
[00:01:11] loading boats and barges with food, pallets of food, putting that stuff and
[00:01:17] organizing those logistics and those pallets of food were being put on boats and barges
[00:01:22] and then brought over to Gaza.
[00:01:25] That's on the Palestine thingy.
[00:01:28] And we had a jetty there.
[00:01:30] It was kind of wasn't a beautiful jetty by any stretch of the imagination.
[00:01:34] It was broken concrete and rebar, but it was a work in progress.
[00:01:38] And so what happened is my colleagues there would receive the food that we were
[00:01:42] sending from Cyprus.
[00:01:43] They would unload the boat, the barges and put those amount of trucks and then bring
[00:01:47] the trucks to our warehouse and store the food in the warehouse and then distribute
[00:01:51] it later, hopefully to good people who need it and not the bad guys.
[00:01:55] But that's the whole thing.
[00:01:56] Take care of the kids.
[00:01:57] I'm doing it for the kids.
[00:01:58] I'm doing it for the kids.
[00:01:59] So that was the thing.
[00:02:00] And then a little oopsie happened, as they say in the military and the IDF killed
[00:02:05] my friend and six colleagues.
[00:02:08] So little, little, it was a little stressful.
[00:02:11] It was bad.
[00:02:12] It wasn't a good thing.
[00:02:13] We were very upset.
[00:02:14] We're still upset.
[00:02:15] I'm upset right now.
[00:02:16] Hold on.
[00:02:17] Yep, still upset.
[00:02:18] So they killed my friend and six colleagues and with their bombs and the drone
[00:02:24] and three times.
[00:02:25] And so that was very, you know, it just kind of threw us off, you know,
[00:02:30] just kind of knocked me off of the whole podcasting mindset and the comedy
[00:02:35] thing. And so we were we were dealing with that and then the aftermath of that
[00:02:40] and then figuring out what we were going to do and then kind of putting that whole
[00:02:44] operation on ice, because, you know, when your friend and six colleagues get
[00:02:50] blown up, you know, you start reconsidering what you're going to do.
[00:02:53] You're going to have to think about it.
[00:02:54] You can't just rush into things.
[00:02:55] So as we're figuring that out, I came back to the States, had to immediately
[00:03:00] turn around and move out of my apartment because we're doing that thing.
[00:03:05] And then I had to take my son to his visit for his college visit.
[00:03:10] He's visiting a college and had to do that thing and then immediately turned
[00:03:13] around and flew back to Poland for the funeral of a friend of mine who was
[00:03:18] blown up by a drone and really nice guy.
[00:03:21] And yeah, heartbreaking.
[00:03:23] And so that happened and then came back.
[00:03:26] Now I'm back here and now I have to turn around and fly down to
[00:03:29] Washington, D.C. for a memorial for my friend who was killed and six
[00:03:34] colleagues who were killed in an oopsie, as they say in the military.
[00:03:37] So that's all happening.
[00:03:39] There's a lot going on.
[00:03:40] It's very not a great time to do a comedy podcast.
[00:03:44] And that was the thing.
[00:03:45] And so I talked to Jack about it and we, you know, just kind of
[00:03:49] making it work.
[00:03:49] And I will be back from the memorial service.
[00:03:53] And I think I'll be done for the time being.
[00:03:54] And then in that in that window, we will record another episode
[00:04:00] of questionable material with Jack and Brian and get back into the regular groove.
[00:04:05] But for now, little just it's a little off putting, to be honest,
[00:04:09] when your friend and six colleagues are are blown up.
[00:04:11] And that just kind of resets you in a way and just kind of knocks you off
[00:04:16] kilter and you just got to get back into the groove, as we say
[00:04:18] in the podcasting business.
[00:04:20] So that's the plan.
[00:04:21] We thank you for the emails and the social media things.
[00:04:24] We know we have not stopped doing the podcast or whatever.
[00:04:26] It's just just slight, slight obstacles, few hurdles,
[00:04:31] you know, as we say.
[00:04:32] And so once we're going to overcome these things and then
[00:04:36] we'll be back to brilliant, entertaining comedy podcast.
[00:04:43] Please don't blow up my friends.